Just Caden. Caden…

I opened my eyes from my deep sleep, confused and groggy. I sat up on the bed and looked at my clock in the augments window. 3:00 am? I rubbed my eyes and tried to relax again.

Caden.

“Yes, Theia.”

Theia projected herself into my room. “I found humans.”

“That’s great, Theia. Can we talk about this after the sun has risen?”

“They are in need of rescue. Has your position changed?”

“I’m sure plenty of humans needs rescue. Can it wait?”

She put her hands on her hips and started to tap her foot. “No, it can’t wait. It’ll take time to get there, and by then you’ll need to find another settlement.”

I sighed. “And where is this settlement?”

“In the Andes.”

I woke suddenly. “In the Americas?”

“Peru, to be exact. A small village will be lost if we don’t rescue them.”

“A village? Forgive me if I’m wrong, but there are not civilizations known to be in the Americas in 8500 BCE. Right?”

“Peru is the exception other than the Olmec.”

“And they have a village?”

Theia giggled. “Well, if you can call a group of dwellings a village, sure.”

“How are they in danger?”

“Volcano.”

“And they can’t see this volcano?”

She crossed her arms and glared at me. “You can be dumb sometimes. Of course, they see the volcano, but they don’t see nor understand why the river dried up.”

“And you think this tribe will listen to me and willingly come to my new city.”

“The weather is nearly identical minus the volcanos. We’re lower in elevation, but we have plenty of mountains if they choose to move higher. I could focus on humans in Africa, but I’m afraid they’d struggle with the altitude changes. Remember, most civilizations develop around coastal areas. We’re not exactly going to be a fishing mecca anytime soon.”

She had a point, but pulling natives from their homes in Peru…I guess I kind of was hoping for white people. Was I really this shallow that I’d not save this group of people because they looked different?

“Caden.”

“Give me a second,” I said in frustration. I reminded myself I wouldn’t be finding civilized people. There were very few advance cultures in the world at this time, and I don’t know why I didn’t realize the first people we’d save would be American Indian or crap, this is even before the Inca civilization.

“Okay. Send the shuttle. I’m sorry for the delay. You were right. If we’re relocating a population to 8,000 feet, it should come from a culture acclimated to the higher altitude.”

This was the first flight of our shuttle, but I wasn’t worried it wouldn’t fly. The design was nearly identical to the shuttles of my past. The shuttle was large enough to seat fifty adults. Well, large adults. You could probably fit 100 smallish people.

“Theia, show me a video of these people.”

The video played, and her use of village was obviously a joke. The shuttle could fit six ‘villages’ this size. The people were skin and bones with weathered tanned faces. It was early morning, and the sun was up there which threw me off at first. I had forgotten that Peru is in the Eastern time zone rather than the mountain time zone that Colorado resided.

“The shuttle should arrive in forty minutes,” Theia informed me.

I spent the wait going to the city to make sure it was sustainable for a population of 30 men, women, and children. The trees were growing, but the orchard wouldn’t be able to produce for a couple of years. The grains and vegetables were going fine. I wish I had corn, potatoes and some of the more common staples of my time. Theia could in time modify plants, but we didn’t have the time to waste time growing plants for just myself. I might need to reconsider that now that we have humans arriving.

The shuttle circled the village, and a small crowd of two dozen individuals came out of their makeshift shelters. The shelters looked like rocks and pelts and little else. I couldn’t imagine living in those type of conditions. The shuttle ran on a gravimetric drive which utilized the natural properties of gravity and cosmic energy waves. Inside the gravity well of earth, it relied more heavily on the natural gravity of earth. Propulsion was silent, and the only reason they knew to look up was due to breaking the sound barrier inside the atmosphere. I couldn’t hear the sonic boom, but I imagine there wasn’t an animal or human within 100 miles which didn’t notice my arrival.

Once the shuttle began to lower in a clearing near the dwellings, the humans dropped to the dirt and started praying. I sighed.

“Just Caden, mighty Caden,” Theia said be between bouts of giggles and gasps. She even paused for deep breaths which we both know she didn’t need.

“Stop. We’re trying to help these people not replace their gods. Land this thing already and let’s do what we can.”

The shuttle lowered to the ground, and the door slid open while the nano-holoprojectors exited the shuttle. I couldn’t help but laugh when nobody arose and approached. I waited, hoping that someone would think about standing before I addressed the group. I knew practically nothing about how the settlement functioned. Did they have a leader?

“Master, are you going to begin projecting?”

“I’m watching.”

“Watching what? Do you like seeing humans eat dirt?”

“No,” I said in frustration. “I’m trying to see who I address.”

“Ask them.”

I rubbed the back of my neck in frustration. “Fine. Begin projection in five seconds.”

I directed the holoprojectors to position themselves in front of the shuttle door and waited for the signal. Three, two, one. Suddenly appearing evoked an audible gasp and children shrieked. Yeah, a half-naked white guy wearing a toga at 10,000 feet elevation kind of freaked them out.

“Greetings,” I said while Theia translated it into their language.

“You really are a lot dumber than I thought,” Theia whispered in my ear.

“Do you have a leader?”

A couple of men exchanged glances and pointed to a woman who began to stand. Ancient wouldn’t have adequately described the old crone who approached me. Her knees jutted at sharp angles, and if she had muscle in her arms, I couldn’t see any. The lines which crisscrossed across her face would have made the Grand Canyons envious. I watched as she slowly made her way closer to my projection. Her movement was jerky, and I felt terrible making her walk towards me rather than me crossing over to her.

“I am unworthy, Great Spirit,” she spoke with a voice beset by age. She began to drop back to her knees when I stopped her.

“Please stand. I have come to help protect your people from a major flood which will come due to the volcano’s eruption.”

“We have angered you. I offer myself as the sacrifice to appease your hunger.”

I held up my hand. “Please, we haven’t much time. I can take everyone in your village to a place where you’ll be safe.”

Women and children started wailing in fear. “Great Spirit, please spare these people for our sins. We are faithful.”

Theia started giggling in my ear, and I took a slow, steady breath. “Please tell me your name?”

“Magus Sonshel,” She looked confused, “your high priestess.”

“Magus Sonshel, I’m afraid you have me confused as someone else. I’m here to protect and save as many of your village as I can. The ash dam is about to break. The ash from the volcano is the reason your river has stopped flowing.”

“Great Spirit, I’ve heard your angry voice and beg for forgiveness. The ground trembles from your anger and we’ve been chastised. Please show mercy and take my life as I’ve seen many seasons.”

I pulled back from my projection and looked at Theia who was practically rolling on the ground in bouts of laughter. “Theia, are you even translating what I’m saying?”

“Oh Great Spirit, p—pl—please forgive me.” Theia snorted and continued laughing at me.

“THEIA!”

“Oh, Master, you’re funny. They’re simple people. Tell them their god demands them to leave and they’ll run like rabbits.”

“I’m not their god!”

“And yet you descended from the heavens in a golden chariot and suddenly appeared in front of them.” The laughing continued.

I like the color of gold…

I returned my focus to the projection which probably looked stupid, staring off into the distance. “Magus Sonshel, I need everyone to grab what they can and enter the shuttle,” I pointed to the shuttle. “We need to move you to a new village I’ve prepared for you.”

Wailing started back up. “Please, forgive.”

“You won’t be harmed.”

I’d like to say that they took my word for it, but unfortunately my discussions with the villagers continued until I finally threatened to flatten the village. After conjuring a representation of their village and then burn it, did they finally listen? I found out that Mana could create a fireball by accident because I was frustrated with them.

Flying shuttle may not impress them but a ball of fire impacting with their village model? Effective. The loading of the villagers took nearly two hours since they insisted on bringing everything including their llamas. The shuttle was large enough to accommodate the people and animals, but I’d have to have Robbie clean it.

The only major hiccup was when someone accidentally bumped into my projection and passed through me without a problem. However, worship of the Great Spirit renewed, and it took another half hour to get people off the ground and moving again.

Once everyone boarded, the doors closed and the villagers began whimpering in fear. I finally turned off my projection and decided to have me there wasn’t helping the situation. I debated what I’d done and if I should have allowed them to perish. El Dorado, although finished, was far more advanced than these people were ready to see.